Spain’s Telefonica has announced a partnership with LG, Samsung and Sony Mobile to support the development of emerging smart wearables technology.

Under the agreement, announced at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Telefonica (Madrid, Spain) aims to integrate its services with smart wearables being developed by the three device makers.

Telefonica notes that it remains open to agreements with other market players, including manufacturers and content providers, aimed at ensuring devices are commercially successful.

“Smart wearables are already a commercial reality and have an even more promising future,” said Marieta Rivero, the global marketing director of Telefonica. “Many analysts have rightly identified the significant market opportunity with wearable technology and Telefonica wants to lead the development, integration and support of services that wearables provide.”

The operator plans to integrate various services – such as its Tu Go communications app – into smart wearables to help accelerate the development of the wearables market.

It has already provided support for the new SmartBand SWR10 from Sony Mobile (Tokyo, Japan), which means that users will be able to receive notifications and control the main call functions of the Tu Go service with a tap of the wrist.

“[Our] leadership has been enhanced through an open approach to both hardware and software, and we will continue to work with our partners, including Telefonica, to broaden the range of varied and premium experiences Sony users expect,” said Stefan Persson, the head of companion products for Sony Mobile Communications.

Both Samsung (Seoul, South Korea) and LG (Seoul, South Korea) are also set to launch smart wearables that include Telefonica services.

“Samsung has been actively exploring a new possibility in smart wearable devices,” said Jean-Daniel Ayme, the deputy president of ETO at Samsung Electronics. “We aim to introduce a variety of new smart wearables throughout the year for consumers who want communication freedom on-the-go”.